9/11- 12 Departure and Henley

Erik drove us to the BART station in Oakland. He helped us get the tickets, etc. We waited for about 10 minutes before getting on. Another couple got on with their bags and we chatted for a bit. They were on their way to Paris to spend 3 weeks in France.

At SFO, lines were long to check in. We stood, as it turned out, in the wrong line to check into our flight. We could have gone to a much shorter line as we had checked-in online. Lesson #1. Our flight was actually not too bad. We had an empty seat in our row to use! Hurray! So, we had a bit of space to move about in. Virgin Atlantic gave us a nice soft chenille and brightly colored (their colors inside the plane---gold, red, and blue) blanket and a little packet with eyeshades and toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste to make our trip more comfortable.

It took us about an hour and a half to get through passport check and security, so Ray’s friend John Hancock had quite a wait for us. He drove us to Henley, I think it was about a 45 minute drive. It was so weird sitting in the (our US) driver’s seat as a passenger, not driving and having cars coming at you on the opposite side of the road that you are used to.

We met Jen, John’s wife. We unloaded our bags and they took us a few miles through the gorgeous English countryside on a single lane to a charming old Pub (I didn’t get a picture, being kind of rummy). We had a nice meal and a few beers which made it harder to stay awake. We were able to stay up (with a few catnaps) until about 9:45pm, London time. I slept until 8:45 this morning, so feel pretty good. The bed the Hancock’s gave us was a wonderful bed. I slept late every morning that we were there.